Nier Automata (Re)Birth Chapter 64

Chapter 64: The Siege of New Babylon (Part 1)

“INCOMING!”

Pepper ducked behind the lip of her trench as soon as she heard the scream, covering her head with a hand as a series of explosions ripped apart the battle line far too close to her for comfort.

She didn’t stay hunkered down for long, though, immediately popping back up and spraying a barrage of bullets at the oncoming horde of Neo-Machines that had continued to advance despite the artillery strike earlier.

There were thousands of them, and they marched implacably on towards New Babylon, eyes glowing purple while chanting insane prayers and religious gibberish.

Trying to listen in on the Neo-Machine’s Network to glean some insight into their plans was useless since even that was clogged with the mad ramblings of a self-proclaimed ‘goddess.’

And Purple Athena’s armies just kept coming, ceaselessly and without end, heedless of the damage they took.

Pepper didn’t care about any of that, though. She had a job to do, and that was to kill as many of the Neo-Machines as possible!

‘If I want to survive, that’s what I gotta do,’ she thought to herself, and the Resistance model opened fire, her gun punching numerous holes in the heads and torsos of the oncoming horde.

‘Shoot ‘em in the head and heart,’ Pepper mused grimly, repeating the advice that had been passed on and hammered in to every soldier on the front lines. If you didn’t destroy a Neo-Machine’s core or primary processor, then they would just get back up again thanks to Purple Athena using the Network to undo any damage.

After taking down five Neo-Machines her rifle clicked empty, and she quickly bent down into cover before discarding the spent cartridge.

“Last clip,” she muttered as she reloaded, and one of the androids in the trench with her nodded.

“Same. Should be getting a supply drop soon, though,” he said, glancing up into the sky hopefully.

Said sky was filled with black smoke and grey clouds, and had been for the last few days. Something was causing the weather to act erratic, with sharp, strong winds and long periods of intense rainfall pounding the trenches. Pepper had lived in Japan long enough to know the signs of an approaching tropical storm, and this had all the makings of a hurricane.

‘We’ve been lucky, the winds have kept the Neo-Machine fliers grounded,’ Pepper thought to herself as she peeked over the edge of the trench and looked for a target to shoot at.

Without any air support, the Neo-Machines had been much easier to handle, as while their infantry was numerous and deadly, the androids were used to dealing with those sorts of numbers and units. The muddy ground also limited the Neo-Machines’ movement as well, with their tanks and heavy walkers slowed down to a crawl or completely immobile and stuck in the thick, swampy muck of No Man’s Land between the trenches.

The soft whir of POD hover-systems went unnoticed amidst all the other loud noises on the battlefield, but the sight of three dirty, grime-smeared robots flying towards them carrying crates was impossible to miss, especially when it was pointed out.

Swooping low, the resupply delivery drones approached their section of the trench, narrowly avoiding the barrage of anti-air fire the Neo-Machines sent their way.

Unfortunately, one of the PODs was hit and began to fall from the sky, smoke trailing from it. It crash-landed just outside the trench, and Pepper swore loudly.

“Cover me!” she shouted, before jumping up out of the trench and running towards the downed POD and its box of supplies. Behind her, several other androids swore loudly as well in response to her actions, but immediately provided the requested covering fire.

As she ran, Pepper shot the head off of a Centaur that was galloping towards the crate, and then slid through the mud to avoid a few maso bombs. She skidded a couple feet across the ground and made it to the fallen POD. It beeped at her as she approached.

“This unit has been damaged. Requesting assistance!”

“I got ya,” Pepper muttered, grabbing the POD in one hand and the supply box in the other, and turned and ran back for the relative safety of her position.

A few shots from the enemy narrowly missed her, and there was a close call when several Neo-Machines zeroed in on her, ignoring everything else in the area, but her fellow Resistance soldiers destroyed them before they could reach her.

“Hurry up!” Pepper’s friend and fellow squad member Twister called out, raising a rocket launcher that was aimed at something behind her.

With grunt, the red-headed gynoid leapt towards the trench and tumbled into it. At the same time, Twister fired off a rocket, which exploded against a Goliath that had been lumbering towards them.

“POD, open the crate!” Pepper ordered, and the robot beeped before the lid on the metal box popped open, revealing loads of ammunition packed inside.

“Come on! Hit ‘em again!” Pepper shouted, tossing a brace of rockets towards Twister, who grabbed them and loaded up her weapon. Pepper was handing out more ammo to other Resistance soldiers. The windfall was much needed, but it didn’t last long.

“Is that it?” Pepper muttered in disappointment when the box was ran empty.

“It’ll have to be enough,” Twister sighed.

“That’s no good,” a nearby android groaned. “How much longer till we’re relieved?”

“There is one hour and six minutes remaining before you are scheduled to rotate out with the next line,” the POD Pepper had rescued informed them.

“There we go, one hour,” Twister said. “We can endure that long!”

And endure they did. But it was not easy. They ran out of ammo far too soon, and another ammo drop not arrive until it was almost time to swap with the reinforcements.

Trudging back to the rear line while fresh soldiers replaced them at the frontline, Pepper and her squad were splattered with mud and one of them was missing an arm. Hundreds of Neo-Machines had broken through and made it into the trenches, and repelling them had been difficult, and the close combat had been brutal.

For five days now, the same pattern had repeated itself. Androids would fight at the frontlines in the trenches and bunkers for three hours, before being pulled back to the rear to rest and recover for three hours. Then, they would be sent to the middle lines, where New Babylon’s artillery was located. For three more hours the androids would operate the larger weapons, before being sent to the frontlines for another round of brutal combat.

These nine hours repeated endlessly, and if the androids had been living beings made of meat and bone, they would have broken down mentally and physically by now.

But they were androids, and they’d survived yet another grueling three hours against the Neo-Machines, and would continue to survive if Pepper had anything to say about it!

“Come on, let’s get to the repair bay and drop this little guy off,” Twister suggested, patting the POD in Pepper’s arms like it was a baby.

“Cute,” Pepper drawled, before wincing as a siren went off throughout the city.

“Please take cover,” the POD droned. “Incoming orbital artillery strike!”

“Looks like the satellites are about to give us a show!” somebody called out as three burning dots appeared in the sky. Massive beams of energy descended from the heavens, piercing the clouds and banishing them in an instant.

Across the battlefield, the three lasers fired from the satellites in orbit struck the Neo-Machine armies, destroying large swathes of them. Ammo stores cooked off and artillery parks went up in flames. Formations were disrupted and the enemy paused in their assault, pulling back to their own lines to start building new cannons to replace the ones that’d just been vaporized.

“WOOO! That’ll show those clankers!” Twister cheered, pumping her fist into air.

“And there go the YoRHa units,” Pepper muttered, glancing up into the air as a dozen aerial units streaked through the sky, taking advantage of the temporarily interrupted storm to lay a withering barrage onto the retreating Neo-Machines.

“Think that’ll buy us some time?” an android wondered.

“Maybe. I just wish they’d done that thirty minutes ago,” the one who’d lost his arm grumbled.

Pepper nodded in agreement. The soldiers at the frontline right now would be having a much easier time with Purple Athena’s forces focusing on rebuilding.

‘Knowing our luck, the Neo-Machines will be back to full fighting strength by the time it’s our turn to reinforce the frontlines in six hours,’ Pepper thought to herself.

She dropped off the POD she’d rescued at a repair bay, while also getting a new arm for her companion. Then, Pepper and her squad went to take a well-deserved break.

As they walked through the streets of New Babylon, a light drizzle started to fall across the city, and Pepper couldn’t help but groan.

“The trenches are going to be absolute swamps by the time we’re back on the front lines,” she muttered.

“Hey, could be worse,” Twister said. “We could be trapped in an unending loop where nothing matters and reality is all a game for eldritch beings.”

“Maybe you should lay off the E-drugs,” one soldier suggested, eyeing her comrade warily.

“Or maybe I’m not doing enough of them!” Twister retorted.

Pepper snorted at that. How ridiculous! Who could believe this world was a game?

&&&&&

10B soared over the battlefield in her aerial unit, firing relentlessly into the disoriented horde of Neo-Machines with missiles and maso bullets. The three orbital strikes had effectively disrupted Purple Athena’s armies and shattered several artillery batteries that had been pounding New Babylon’s defenses for a while now.

Yet even with thousands of Neo-Machines vaporized from the attack, there were still hundreds of thousands more that were scurrying about, trying to build new weapons to resume the attack.

‘There’s no end to them,” 10B growled, angered at the sheer number of enemies. Purple Athena had abandoned all other battlefields across the planet, focusing entirely on New Babylon.

While this gave the other Terran Army and YoRHa forces around the world much needed breathing room, it also meant that Purple Athena could react to any changes in the siege almost instantly, and the coordination between Neo-Machine units was seamless.

Commander White was doing her best to funnel as many forces and resources towards New Babylon, but the sheer number of enemies meant that the best reinforcements could do was whittle away at them.

10B grimaced as she evaded a platoon of flying Neo-Machines who were chasing after her and her squad.

“Take them down!” she ordered, and her team mates obeyed, blasting apart their pursuers.

“Good work, girls,” she congratulated her companions. “Keep it up! Let’s all return home safe and sound!”

The squad gave professional nods and returned to the fighting, not daring to linger and celebrate until everything was done. And as she flew, 10B listened to the rest of the radio chatter.

“This is 49B! We’ve eliminated the artillery battery in Grid G-25! Returning to the Bunker for restocking!”

“111B, here! Enemy AA batteries disabled in Grid H-2! Returning to the Bunker now!”

“Can anyone here me?! This is Captain Rose, requesting assistance at Grid B-11! Neo-Machines are about to break through!”

Attention! This is 81O! Incoming orbital supply drop on Grid C-5! All units nearby in Grid C, protect it!”

The battlefield was chaotic and dozens of messages buzzed in 10B’s ear as she flew around the sky. Only when she ran out of missiles did she turn back towards the Bunker.

“All units! Be advised! Avoid Grid D-18! I repeat-!” the order was repeated a few more times before cutting off.

When the warning came, 10B was confused. Why were they being told to stay away from that section of the battlefield? If she wasn’t mistaken, that was near the front lines. Grid A was the rear lines, the city of New Babylon itself. Grid B was where the Terran Army’s artillery was, and Grid C was the frontlines.

A few seconds later, she saw why. A massive armored push of Neo-Machine tanks and Goliaths was marching towards the trenches, and if it managed to reach them, it would overrun the defenders!

“What do we do, 10B?” 22B asked, staring at the approaching assault. The Terran Army in the area wasn’t strong enough to fight that many enemies off!

Before she could respond, a new alert came in from the Bunker.

“All units in Grid D-18, standby!” an Operator informed them. “We are deploying a defensive asset to deal with the Neo-Machines!”

Something appeared on the ground near the Terran Army at Grid C-18, and floated out into No Man’s Land, apparently unconcerned with the thousands of deadly Neo-Machines that were closing in.

At first, 10B thought it was an older model of Machine Lifeform, but looking closer it was actually some sort of four-armed, floating skeleton. It took a bit for her to remember that it was some sort of ancient human weapon called ‘Emil.’

“What is it weird thing doing?” 22B wondered over the squad’s tactical net, and 10B found herself asking the same question as her squad member.

“Doesn’t matter,” 10B replied after a moment. “Return to the Bunker to refuel and rearm. If necessary, we will drive the enemy back if whatever that thing does ends up failing.”

22B and the rest of the squad agreed with the plan and shot back to the floating station.

10B hoped the little guy knew what he was doing, though. Too many allies and friends had already perished during the fighting.

&&&&&

Emil looked at the approaching army with a heavy feeling inside of his… well, he didn’t really have a heart, anymore. Still, he felt weighed down by the burden of yet another war.

He’d so dearly hoped that with the Red Girls gone there would be a chance for true peace. Yet here he was, staring down thousands of war machines that wanted to destroy everything he and his companions had rebuilt over the years.

‘Why did you choose to do this, Purple Athena?’ Emil wondered as he stared out at the Neo-Machines.

He likely would never know. And honestly, he didn’t want to. Purple Athena was full of pain and madness. She called it ‘love,’ but Emil knew she was wrong.

Emil – the original Emil – had known love. Had carried their memories so close to him that even thousands of years and a million copies later, he could still remember it all. Emil knew he was just a copy of a copy, but did that really change anything? No, he didn’t think so.

‘I think, therefore I am,’ Emil mused to himself. ‘And I think that right now, Purple Athena needs to be taught the error of her ways.’

Sending legions of Machines to try and conquer New Babylon, all for the sake of ‘claiming’ Alexander’s love for herself? Madness. She didn’t understand that her very actions were what drove Alexander away from her.

Emil raised his fours staves, one in each hand, and called upon the maso within him and that dwelt within the world. The air became laced with static, and distortions became to flicker, like mirages in a desert.

He stabbed two of his staves into the ground and channeled the maso he’d gathered into the ground. The earth, already softened up from the rain and continuous bombardments, churned and rose under his command. The tanks and Goliaths were grappled by enormous hands of mud and stone that rose up from beneath, and they were dragged underground, crushed and turned into scrap.

Purple Athena tried to fight back, sending her tainted Purple Maso to repair the Neo-Machines in his grasp, but Emil countered her, severing the connection she had with her servants by pumping them full of White Maso.

Next, Emil swung his other two staves in a wide arc, and blasted the surviving Neo-Machines with a Curse of Entropy. Their metal began to rust and decay, and they fell apart. A few sparks of purple danced among them, but Purple Athena couldn’t repair them faster than his curse affected them.

As the Neo-Machines crumbled away, Emil executed the third part of his plan. All across the stretch of battlefield that was suddenly completely free of Neo-Machines, huge golems rose up from the ground.

The earthen servitors rampaged through enemy lines, crushing and trampling everything Purple Athena sent at them.

“As expected,” Emil mused as he watched one of his golems pulverize a Neo-Machine, only for the latter to refuse to rise, even as a purple haze sizzled around its body. “As long as they are filled with White Maso, Purple Athena cannot repair them.”

Unfortunately, there wasn’t really a way to use this information. Emil had to keep focusing in order maintain the connection with the White Maso, and the moment his spells ended, the pure maso would fade and be replaced by Purple Athena’s tainted maso.

Still, for the moment it was useful in clearing several enemy lines and buying more time for the Terran Army to regroup and reinforce themselves.

Emil floated away back towards the trenches; his work here was done. Though he had a feeling he’d be called back to the front lines again. And soon.

&&&&&

“That’s a lot of clankers,” 15G muttered as he looked through a sniper rifle scope at a teeming horde of Neo-Machines. He was on a roof on a building at the very edge of Grid B that let him observe Purple Athena’s legions without risk of getting shot.

“We need a better name for them,” 9S mused, lying on his stomach next to the Gunner.

“Huh? What are you talking about?” 15G asked, glancing over at the S-type.

“I just mean it doesn’t fit the Neo-Machines,” 9S replied. “‘Clankers’ worked fine for the old models because they were rather shoddily constructed. But these? Sleeker and far better built and maintained.”

“Yeah, I mean, I suppose,” 15G muttered. “What would you call them, then?”

9S rubbed his chin. “I guess ‘mannequins.’ That’s what the sorta look like, after all.”

“I think I prefer Clankers,” 15G said after thinking it over. “Easier to say. Snappier, too.”

9S grumbled but nodded a bit, eyes still on the horizon. “Hmm. Oh, over there! See that quadrupedal one with the black stripes?”

“Kinda looks like a purple tiger?” 15G inquired, peeking back through the scope.

“Yup. Hit it.”

15G obeyed, firing his sniper rifle. Instead of a bullet, however, a small, needle-like device was fired into the Neo-Machine’s head, and 9S whipped out a small complex looking radio receiver, fiddling with some buttons on it.

“Okay, good shot! The remote connector managed to latch on!” 9S said happily.

“Will that thing even work?” 15G inquired.

“It should,” 9S replied. “Alright, activating Remote Hacking attempt!”

He placed his left hand onto the receiver and sent himself into the device. His mind whirled through the long-range WiFi signal being broadcast from the receptor the G-type had shot into the tiger-shaped Neo-Machine, and a moment later 9S was inside Purple Athena’s Network.

‘First impressions: she has a lot of time on her hands,’ 9S mused to himself as he looked around at the place he’d appeared. The digital landscape looked like a snippet from ancient human history, specifically ancient Greece or Rome, with the buildings and roads all built in that classical style.

In the distance an enormous mountain loomed over the entire Network, a representation of Purple Athena’s version of Mount Olympus. All data, represented here as the roads themselves, converged onto the mountain, and purple flames burned in lanterns, torches, and braziers scattered along the roadside and within the various structures.

Purple Athena had also clearly taken the phrase ‘My body is a temple’ literally, as every single building within the city was actually the digital representation of a different Neo-Machine unit.

Wandering the streets and hiding within the buildings were figures made up of black smoke were held together by purple chains made of jumbled up zeroes and ones. These were the souls of the Neo-Machines themselves, or at least their digital consciousnesses. If the buildings were their actual bodies, then these shades were their minds.

It was telling to 9S that Purple Athena had designed things this way. Even the Machines of the Old Network hadn’t been separated like this. Body and mind were one for the original Machine Lifeforms, just like the androids.

There were advantages to this method, sure, 9S could admit that much. It was far easier for Purple Athena’s repair magic to put a Neo-Machine back together if the consciousness was a separate entity from their actual body. It also meant that a Neo-Machine could be put into a brand-new body if their old one was badly damage beyond what even the ‘goddess’ could fix. It would be easy as moving houses.

‘This must be how Purple Athena transplanted 13R into 13B’s body,’ 9S guessed as he observed the surroundings, subtly scanning them.

But there were considerable downsides to this setup as well. For one, if the Network shut down, every single Neo-Machine would die. Their minds were tied to the Network, not their own bodies. For the old Machines, when they had disconnected from the Red Girl’s Network, it was like they simply lost their memories and could relearn everything without suffering permanent ego-death. That was not the case for Purple Athena’s Network. If she died, so too would her ‘worshippers.’

‘That’s not even going into the way the Neo-Machines are shackled, incapable of developing complex personalities like the older Machines,’ 9S mused. ‘They cannot escape the Network, either. Separation means death.’

It was a disgustingly efficient way to ensure loyalty, 9S thought. And a completely amoral and cruel one as well.

Thankfully he didn’t have to stick around for much longer. He needed data for Jaqueline and the other analysts who were trying to figure out how to protect themselves again cyber attacks and digital intrusions.

‘Alright, I think this is enough,’ 9S thought to himself after checking how much data he’d analyzed already. He didn’t want to try and do too much, lest he draw Purple Athena’s attention and ire. He was good, but he wasn’t sure he could defeat her on her home turf.

He decided to call it a day and leave, and headed towards the doorway that he’d originally come out of. Unfortunately, it seemed that his actions hadn’t gone as unnoticed as he’d hoped, as before he could begin to log out by walking through the door, a barrage of sword-like feather shot down towards him.

Reflexes honed over many years of battle helped him avoid them, and the attack missed as he back-flipped out of the way. The feathers hadn’t been meant to kill him, though, as they blocked off the doorway he’d logged in from.

“Looks like I’ve got company,” he muttered, grimacing up at the trio of metallic birds who’d appeared above him.

They swept their wings forward again, firing off a barrage of razor-sharp feathers that sliced mercilessly through the air, though this time 9S countered them with a shield he conjured around himself.

He glanced around, noting that the shadows had retreated and weren’t on the streets anymore. Furthermore, the rest of the doors had slammed shut. Then, over his shoulder, the door he’d come in from was still sealed off. No way out through there.

“Fine, let’s play,” 9S declared, drawing his sword and leaping into the air. He cut one of the metal birds in half before it could react, and to his surprise a third of the metal feather barring the way vanished.

“Ah, so that’s how it is,” 9S grinned viciously, and the two remaining birds shared nervous looks with each other.

They didn’t have a chance to retreat, however, before 9S fired off a laser that vaporized one of them, and then a bunch of glowing white chains wrapped around the last avian program, pinning it in place, allowing 9S to cut it in half.

“That was easy,” he muttered as he landed back on the ground, the barrier completely gone.

And then the alarms began blaring, and the S-type winced. “Ah. Damn, I tempted Fate.”

In the direction of Purple Athena’s false Olympus a horde of razor-winged birds was flying towards him, the defense measures finally kicking in and noticing him despite how fast he’d dispatched the first wave.

“Nope!” 9S exclaimed, turning around and running back into the log-out point.

He snapped back into his body, rubbing his head in annoyance from the feedback.

“You okay?” 15G inquired.

“Yeah. Good news, the remote hacking worked,” 9S replied, waving the handheld terminal that currently had all of the data he’d collected. “Let’s go and give it to the commander.”

15G nodded and shouldered the large sniper rifle. The two androids departed, hurrying back to the Bunker to report the success of their mission. With this, hopefully they’d be able to defeat Purple Athena once and for all!